Breaking News A union representing nearly 150,000 autoworkers has launched a strike against the Big 3 U.S. automakers — General Motors, Ford and Stellantis.
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Mr.LV
OG
It’s time to pay up !
General Motors CEO Mary Barra, the highest-paid chief executive among the Big Three, made nearly $29 million in 2022. Securities and Exchange Commission filings show that this is 362 times the median GM employee's paycheck
Barra started working for General Motors in 1980 as a co-op student when she was 18 years old.[12] Her job was checking fender panels and inspecting hoods, and she used this job to pay for her college tuition.[13]
CEO-worker 2022 compensation at Big Three automakers
General Motors
General Motors CEO Mary Barra, the highest-paid chief executive among the Big Three, made nearly $29 million in 2022. Securities and Exchange Commission filings show that this is 362 times the median GM employee's paycheck
Barra started working for General Motors in 1980 as a co-op student when she was 18 years old.[12] Her job was checking fender panels and inspecting hoods, and she used this job to pay for her college tuition.[13]
CEO-worker 2022 compensation at Big Three automakers
General Motors
- CEO Mary Barra: $29 million
- Median worker: $80,034
- CEO-worker pay ratio: 362-to-1
- CEO Jim Farley: $21 million
- Median worker: $74,691
- CEO-worker pay ratio: 281-to-1
- CEO Carlos Tavares: $24.8 million
- Average worker: $67,789
- CEO-worker pay ratio: 365-to-1
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Mr.LV
OG
Sky-high CEO pay is in focus as workers everywhere are demanding higher wages
Updated September 14, 20239:50 AM ET
By
Danielle Kaye
,
Andrea Hsu
For the latested on the UAW strike, follow NPR's digital live coverage.
Workers of all stripes have chafed at the stratospheric pay of their CEO bosses for years, even decades.
This year, unions are calling out the pay disparity between workers and CEOs in negotiation after negotiation with management, as they demand more.
It's at the core of the United Auto Workers' messaging, as the union pushes for substantial pay raises for its roughly 150,000 members, who work at the Big Three automakers: Ford, General Motors and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler).
And after their contract expires this Thursday, workers are prepared to go on strike if their demands aren't met.
"The Big Three CEOs saw their pay increase by 40% over the last four years, while our pay only went up by 6%," UAW President Shawn Fain said at a news conference last week.
As of Tuesday, the UAW is proposing an approximately 40% compounded wage increase over the course of a four-year contract, a tad lower than its opening bid of 46%.
Fain, UAW's president, said that in comparison, a worker makes $16.50 as an hourly starting wage at Ultium Cells, GM's joint-venture battery plant in Lordstown, Ohio.
"That means a newly hired Ultium worker would have to work full time for 16 years to earn what Mary Barra makes in a single week," Fain said.
The automakers have so far countered the UAW's wage demands with far more modest proposals. As of Friday, the automakers offered raises as high as 14.5% over four years, which Fain characterized as "deeply inadequate."
But executive compensation soared, especially in the 1980s and 1990s, when CEOs were lionized and a large chunk of their pay was linked to their company's stock performance. CEO pay skyrocketed along with the stock market, with the S&P 500 increasing by more than 1,000% since 1990. In the same period, workers' wages, adjusted for inflation, have barely budged.
In 2021, CEOs earned 399 times the typical worker, the EPI report found.
"Obviously, CEOs should be the highest-paid person in an enterprise," said EPI Chief Economist Josh Bivens, who co-wrote the report. "But the question is, how much higher than everyone else?"
However, the disclosure of CEO-worker pay ratios — a rule adopted in 2018 — doesn't appear to have helped bridge the gap thus far, said Cindy Schipani, a professor of business administration at the University of Michigan.
And these ratios, Schipani added, are exceptionally high at U.S. companies.
"The American free market economy has taken this to such high levels," Schipani said.
The average hourly wage for workers manufacturing motor vehicles and parts, adjusted for inflation, has dropped by more than 20% in the past two decades, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
To put that in perspective, in just one year — between 2021 and 2022 — Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares' total remuneration rose by 22%.
Dawnya Ferdinandsen, 54, builds transmissions at a GM plant in Toledo, Ohio, a job she has held since 2016. She earns $27 an hour and says she hasn't had a raise since she was hired.
While CEOs are enjoying their luxury watches and second homes, she said, workers like her are having to make tough choices.
"We've gotta decide, are we going to pay our electric bill? Or, jeez, are we going to go over here and get this medication?" Ferdinandsen said. "We have to make decisions because our pay isn't right."
Ferdinandsen applauds Fain's "audacious" demands, especially the pay increases and a restoration of cost-of-living adjustments, which were suspended in 2009.
"What ... we want is not going to break the bank," she said, citing the $250 billion in profits that automakers have taken in over the past decade, according to UAW estimates.
Schipani of the University of Michigan said she doubts CEO-worker pay ratios will go down anytime soon, since top executives are paid based on market demands.
The average worker, Schipani said, doesn't have much leverage when it comes to bridging the gap, although she said a strong union can make a difference.
It's a point that UAW leader Fain has been underscoring as the strike deadline nears.
"Without the work that we do, nothing moves in this country," Fain told autoworkers at a Labor Day rally in Detroit. "We have the power, and it's time we use that power to get economic and social justice."
Updated September 14, 20239:50 AM ET
By
Danielle Kaye
,
Andrea Hsu
For the latested on the UAW strike, follow NPR's digital live coverage.
Workers of all stripes have chafed at the stratospheric pay of their CEO bosses for years, even decades.
This year, unions are calling out the pay disparity between workers and CEOs in negotiation after negotiation with management, as they demand more.
It's at the core of the United Auto Workers' messaging, as the union pushes for substantial pay raises for its roughly 150,000 members, who work at the Big Three automakers: Ford, General Motors and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler).
And after their contract expires this Thursday, workers are prepared to go on strike if their demands aren't met.
"The Big Three CEOs saw their pay increase by 40% over the last four years, while our pay only went up by 6%," UAW President Shawn Fain said at a news conference last week.
As of Tuesday, the UAW is proposing an approximately 40% compounded wage increase over the course of a four-year contract, a tad lower than its opening bid of 46%.
General Motors CEO makes 362 times the median employee
General Motors CEO Mary Barra, the highest-paid chief executive among the Big Three, made nearly $29 million in 2022. Securities and Exchange Commission filings show that this is 362 times the median GM employee's paycheck. Publicly traded companies are required to disclose the ratio of their CEO's pay to their median employee's pay.Fain, UAW's president, said that in comparison, a worker makes $16.50 as an hourly starting wage at Ultium Cells, GM's joint-venture battery plant in Lordstown, Ohio.
"That means a newly hired Ultium worker would have to work full time for 16 years to earn what Mary Barra makes in a single week," Fain said.
The automakers have so far countered the UAW's wage demands with far more modest proposals. As of Friday, the automakers offered raises as high as 14.5% over four years, which Fain characterized as "deeply inadequate."
Since the 1990s, CEO pay has skyrocketed alongside the stock market
This kind of pay disparity was not always a given. In 1965, CEOs typically earned 20 times the typical worker's pay in their industries, according to a report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute(EPI).But executive compensation soared, especially in the 1980s and 1990s, when CEOs were lionized and a large chunk of their pay was linked to their company's stock performance. CEO pay skyrocketed along with the stock market, with the S&P 500 increasing by more than 1,000% since 1990. In the same period, workers' wages, adjusted for inflation, have barely budged.
In 2021, CEOs earned 399 times the typical worker, the EPI report found.
"Obviously, CEOs should be the highest-paid person in an enterprise," said EPI Chief Economist Josh Bivens, who co-wrote the report. "But the question is, how much higher than everyone else?"
However, the disclosure of CEO-worker pay ratios — a rule adopted in 2018 — doesn't appear to have helped bridge the gap thus far, said Cindy Schipani, a professor of business administration at the University of Michigan.
And these ratios, Schipani added, are exceptionally high at U.S. companies.
"The American free market economy has taken this to such high levels," Schipani said.
The average hourly wage for workers manufacturing motor vehicles and parts, adjusted for inflation, has dropped by more than 20% in the past two decades, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
To put that in perspective, in just one year — between 2021 and 2022 — Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares' total remuneration rose by 22%.
Workers say: "Our pay isn't right"
The pay disparities rankle autoworkers, especially those who have seen their wages stagnate as their companies' profits have soared in recent years.Dawnya Ferdinandsen, 54, builds transmissions at a GM plant in Toledo, Ohio, a job she has held since 2016. She earns $27 an hour and says she hasn't had a raise since she was hired.
While CEOs are enjoying their luxury watches and second homes, she said, workers like her are having to make tough choices.
"We've gotta decide, are we going to pay our electric bill? Or, jeez, are we going to go over here and get this medication?" Ferdinandsen said. "We have to make decisions because our pay isn't right."
Ferdinandsen applauds Fain's "audacious" demands, especially the pay increases and a restoration of cost-of-living adjustments, which were suspended in 2009.
"What ... we want is not going to break the bank," she said, citing the $250 billion in profits that automakers have taken in over the past decade, according to UAW estimates.
Schipani of the University of Michigan said she doubts CEO-worker pay ratios will go down anytime soon, since top executives are paid based on market demands.
The average worker, Schipani said, doesn't have much leverage when it comes to bridging the gap, although she said a strong union can make a difference.
It's a point that UAW leader Fain has been underscoring as the strike deadline nears.
"Without the work that we do, nothing moves in this country," Fain told autoworkers at a Labor Day rally in Detroit. "We have the power, and it's time we use that power to get economic and social justice."
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I'm pro-union so get what you think you're worth. 
AZTG
OG
Americans so fucking stupid. I hate it here.
We used to have strong ass unions that got so many pro labor rule changed made. And ofcourse got mfers fair pay.
And then after years of anti union propaganda, Americans became anti union.
Voting against your intrests is an American pass time.
Im glad Unions look to be catching on again.
We used to have strong ass unions that got so many pro labor rule changed made. And ofcourse got mfers fair pay.
And then after years of anti union propaganda, Americans became anti union.
Voting against your intrests is an American pass time.
Im glad Unions look to be catching on again.
Big_Ev
Mr. Brick City
And they will be the first ones complaining that these jobs happen to move to Mexico. My dad used to be in the UAW when he worked for Ford. I remember the union used to be strong and got things done for the employees. Then one by one, a lot of the plants started to closed or moved down to Mexico. My dad took an early retirement.
Ccslim
Active Member
Basically Reagan was the begining of the end as he worked to weaken unions and their perception. Glad to see people realize their labor power.
AZTG
OG
But thats an America thing again.
America is "supposed" to protect its citizens. Big quotes around supposed.
If a company wants to close a plant and go to some country losing thousands of jobs in the process, then let the govt put tarrifs on those mfers.
Like oh you getting cheap labor in mexico? Cool. Here hold this 30% tarrif on importing some shit you build overseas.
And you know what will happen? Ford will stay in the US, give into Union demands, and make 9 Billion a year in profit instead of 10 billion.
Capatilism is a machine that requires fuel to run. When it comes to the point where you cant feed it resources as fuel, it will start using the only resource you have left, which is labor.
We in the end game.
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Big_Ev
Mr. Brick City
You're preaching to the choir!!!
Yrc was a union and they doors are closed. Hope the big 3 sort this out and come to a agreement of some sort.
Justauser
Active Member
Tayboo
There she go🥰
This. Companies are not just keeping wages stagnant, but they're been slowly stripping away giving employees additional benefits as well. I'm happy to see that they want pensions back...
SneakDZA
The New Ho King
You have a strange definition of insane.
Tayboo
There she go🥰
I don't think what the union wants is insane at all. Wages have been stagnant for decades and the pandemic exposed that people can be just as productive when workers have a better work/life balance.
Big_Ev
Mr. Brick City
757'sFinest
OG
I'm in the union myself....get what you deserve